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i agree with everything sloaner said, i think the paragon build with a shutdown mes can work.  Me and Big put together something last night, will post it when its finished.

Ok here is my rambling paragon post.   Proceed with caution!

Right now 7 of the skills on my bar seem solid, I've been experimenting on the 8th.  Out of the above skills the one I have been considering the most was Stand Your Ground, because like you said they get knocked down first.  I was asking the monks last night if they were seeing less KD lately, not sure if it will be as effective since there is less shock going around.  I can still run it next time to see how it works.   Right now in that slot I have ballad of restoration which i like a lot, it heals each party member for 68ish the next time they take dmg.
  Another shout i was considering is Aria of Zeal which gives all party members +3 energy the next time they cast a spell.   I would bring We shall Return, but Go for the Eyes is huge.  Basically anytime its up I throw that up to enhance the dmg.   And Aggressive Refrain is really important in helping my adrenaline stay up to cast Watch Yourself+Go for the Eyes since they are both 4 adrenaline.   Bladeturn is really hard to use, you have to target the ally and its hard on energy since it doesnt give back any energy.  Also disrupting isnt as effective as it was when barbed spear was on my bar (yes i know the dervish causes conditions, but im not always on the same target.)

 Here is my current bar and attributes:

4   Tactics
10 Spear Mastey  - minor rune
14 Command       -  major
8   Motivation      -  minor
10 Leadership      - major

Vampiric spear + shield both +30 hp,  Furious spear as second

-  Spear of Lightning              little bit of pressure or throw at someone running away low hp
- "Incoming!"                         lasts 7 seconds with 14 command, recharges in 20
- Ballad of Restoration
- Aggressive Refrain              increased atk spd, keeps adrenaline just enough for other shouts
- "Go for the eyes!"                 give you and warrior  +72% chance to critical on next atk skill
- "Watch Yourself!"                
- "Fall Back"                           good for chasing a team thats running, or save when in their base to help retreat
- Signet of Return                  solid hard res

I've also noticed spamming Go for the eyes and Watch yourself is good, but there are times when you only have enough adrenaline to throw one up right away.  That is when you must make a decision.  If someone on our team is being pressured, go with Watch Yourself,  if we are ok and Punt is about to spike, go with Go for the Eyes.   Also Fall Back helps monks kite,  but I dont use it all the time anymore.  I try to save it if i think we will need to pull back, whether at the flag stand or in their base,   or if we are pushing the other team out and we need to maintain our pressure by pushing out with a little extra speed.   Incoming is godly, at the start I keep it up as much as possible, or if I'm targeting an ele and i see them about to spike.    The hardest part of this job is to make sure all of your shouts hit your whole team, basically you need to position yourself in the exact center of the team and let the war+derv know if they are out of range since if they overextend Incoming doesnt work.  

Overall I would say this job is in a strange position, way more than my mesmer was, of coordinating the team.   You give buffs to atk+defense, and you have time to listen to the rest of the team complaining about whats giving us trouble.   Then you can tell the offense to hit the mesmer casting languor, or tell punt to pull back so you can cast incoming on him.   Or you can target a shadowsong or a rangers wolf pet to help out subtly.   The paragon himself doesnt do massive dmg, and doesnt heal for huge hp, but he helps greatly.

i had an idea last night, maybe the rit could bring the elite which gives +24 armor and he cant be interrupted.   With equinox in the picture someone using gale to interrupt him would be penalized.   Also he and the smiter could bring guided weapon, which as me and Punt have discussed can help warriors a ton when spiking.    Another option is to sub in Wanderlust as his elite.

First off I want to say good job everyone, we've been winning in halls again after a long absence.   We have a solid HoH build, and after talking with a few officers about our success, I decided to try bringing that success over into GvG.  

One of the things I have noticed lately is that now that HA is 6 man team, and also due to map changes, there is ALOT less spike in halls.   Another thing I noticed, which is probably a direct result, is that there is more spike in GvG.    Also highly present is single or dual smite builds, which are always hard to counter do to the massive pressure they apply.    What I'm about to present is a rough draft, but looks like it has big potential:

2 W/A or W/E - constant damage/pressure
These would be what we are running in HoH, only thing i would say is required is at least 1 Shields Up! to deal with rangers.  The reason i said maybe 1 or both wars as W/A is for Siphon Speed.  I don't think we've run it in GvG before, but Alfred was rocking it in halls, to good effect.  It fits nicely with my shutdown hexes too.

1 Me/? - monk shutdown
This is me and my patented super deluxe shut 2 monks down til they cry build,  version 4.2

1 Rt/Me - more pressure/blind/enchant removal
The build i ran the past week in halls.  Shadowsong does nice dmg+blind, Pain+Bloodsong for dmg, Disenchantment is probably the best counter we've ever had against smite teams.   Sig of Humilty to stop tainted necs, or randomly disable someone elses elite.  Works wonders on an eviscerate war also by the way.  Consume soul negates enemy spirits, and provides bonus healing off ours.

1 Mo/me - smite monk aka more pressure
basic air of smite monk, can bring Smite Hex or Draw Conditions, or both!

1 prot monk
to be discussed

1 SB/infuse monk
ok here it is, I think we need an sb/infuse since all the spikers have stopped doing halls and are now running that stuff in gvg now.   Our regular 2 monk build cannot counter a good spike, but with sb/infuse i think we can.   Even if they dont have eles or necros spiking, SB can help a monk from being hexed.  I do recall running it when i first joined ZB, and I think the reasons were the same.

1 R/? runner
Ok to fit with my shutdown I want to have the runner bring Equinox.  It doubles exhaustion, making Arcane Languor completely filthy.  It also penalizes Ether Prodigy/Mind Shock/Burn/Freeze eles.   I'm also thinking have the ranger bring traps, and trap around our monks when he comes up.  If it seems we are missing the extinguish/heal party from our runner, we can always go back to the conventional E/mo runner.


Now this IS a rough draft, you will notice I didnt put everyones skillbar.  One reason is that it's a work in progress.  Another reason is because I hate telling people what to put on their skillbars, and then losing because they aren't comfortable with it.   I also don't like relying on 1 specific skill, such as Natures Renewal on our old build.   Equinox is bonus exhaustion, the build won't fall apart without it.  

I'm not sure if we need an infuser with a smite monk throwing in added healing, but then again I think we need something solid to catch spikes.  This week I've faced rspike, bspike, and obs flame spike as a guest in gvg.   The 2 monk team i was in was pitifully unable to cope with a well done spike.  I'd rather stay alive while killing spikers, then just be outspiked and lose.   This build has defense against all 3 of those spike builds, and still has solid dmg output.  I think we should try it.